Conventional revolvers of the type to which the present invention relates have a frame on which the barrel, the cylinder, the hammer, the trigger and the other parts of the mechanism of the revolver are mounted. The cylinder is formed with a plurality of cartridge receiving chambers and is rotatably mounted on the frame in an opening formed in the frame so that when it is rotated about its longitudinal axis each of the cartridge receiving chambers is successively brought into axial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the barrel of the revolver. To facilitate loading and unloading of the chambers of the cylinder, the revolver is advantageously provided with a cylinder crane the lower end of which is pivotally mounted on the frame below the barrel, the cylinder crane having a rearwardly extending cylinder pivot shaft on which the cylinder is rotatably mounted. The pivot cylinder crane permits the cylinder to be swung or rotated sideways from its firing position within the frame to its loading and unloading position outside of the frame, the cylinder being held at its firing position by a manually operated cylinder latch.
When the cylinder latch is manually released the cylinder can be rotated to its loading and unloading position outside the frame of the revolver. When at this position unfired cartridges may easily be inserted into and be removed from the chambers of the cylinder. However, the cases of fired cartridges are not so easily removed from the chambers of the cylinder, and ejector means are advantageously provided to effect the ejection of these cartridge cases. The ejector means is normally mounted for longitudinal movement along the longitudinal axis of the cylinder and advantageously is disposed in a longitudinal center bore formed in the cylinder and in the cylinder pivot shaft. The ejector means advantageously comprises a star-shaped cartridge ejector portion and a generally tubular ejector guide portion, the cartridge ejector portion being adapted to engage the rims of the cartridges contained in the chambers of the cylinder and the ejector guide portion being slidably mounted for longitudinal movement on the rearward end of the cylinder and extending forwardly into the longitudinal center bore of the cylinder pivot shaft on which the cylinder is rotatably mounted. An ejector push rod is threadably connected to the forward end of the tubular guide portion of the ejector means, the ejector push rod extending forwardly through an opening formed in the cylinder crane and being slidably mounted for longitudinal movement on the cylinder crane. A helically wound ejector spring is disposed within the longitudinally extending annular space defined by the outer surface of the tubular guide portion of the ejector means and the inner surface of the longitudinal center bore of the cylinder pivot shaft, the ejector spring urging the ejector means and the ejector rod to their forwardmost position. When the ejector push rod and ejector means are at their forwardmost position rimmed cartridges may be fully inserted in each of the chambers of the cylinder. When the ejector push rod and ejector means are moved to their rearwardmost position the star-shaped cartridge ejector portion of the ejector means pushes the cartridge cases rearwardly to facilitate removal of the cartridges from the chambers of the cylinder. Revolvers having ejector means of the general type described herein are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,628,278 to William B. Ruger and U.S. Pat. No. 3,685,193 to Harry H. Sefried, II.
In many revolvers of conventional design the longitudinal travel or stroke of the ejector means is insufficient to completely withdraw the forward ends of the cartridge cases from the chambers of the cylinder, and if these cartridge cases do not fall free from the cylinder when the revolver is up-ended the removal of the cases from the chambers must be completed manually by the shooter. The hang up of the forward ends of the fired cartridges in the cylinder is objectionable, especially in military arms employed under combat conditions. As the longitudinal travel or stroke of the ejector means is largely determined by the length of the cylinder, and as this, in turn, is largely dependent on the size or caliber of the cartridge that the revolver is designed to fire, there appears to be little that can be done to increase the stroke of the ejector means short of increasing the length of the cylinder with consequent redesigning and redimensioning of the entire revolver. After an intensive investigation into the solution of this problem, I have now devised a novel arrangement for the ejector spring which provides a substantial increase in the length of the stroke of the ejector means without increasing the length of the cylinder or effecting any other change in the mechanism of the revolver.